Below is the brief gazetteer entry of 1990, with additional notes in italics below. Airthrey Castle survives at the heart of University of Stirling

AIRTHREY CASTLE MATERNITY HOSPITAL, BRIDGE OF ALLAN The hospital opened c.1941 in the mansion house, a daring design by Robert Adam in his castle style. However, it had closed by 1969 when the new maternity unit opened at Stirling Royal Infirmary. The estates of Airthrey Castle were built on to form Stirling University.

Revisions

Adam drew up designs for Airthrey Castle in 1791, but was not involved with its construction. Building work was supervised by Thomas Russell of Seton. The entrance front was rebuilt in 1891 to designs by David Thomson for Donald Graham, the chief partner in the firm of William Graham & Company, East India Merchants, of Glasgow. The interiors were fitted out with rich carved panelling, still in situ. He had purchased the estate in 1889, but died in January 1901 of erysipelas. After his death the house remained in his wife’s ownership, but in 1924 the shipowner Charles Donaldson took a five-year lease of the estate. He died at the castle in December 1938.

At the outbreak of the Second World War the Estate was acquired by the Ministry of Health as an Emergency Maternity Hospital administered by Stirling County Council, taking patients from Stirling and Clyde. It remained in the ownership of the Graham family until after the war, having been put up for sale in November 1944. With the foundation of the National Health Service the hospital passed to the Western Regional Health Board. A nurses’ home was built in 1953 to the south-east of the house. This L-shaped, two-storey, flat-roofed building appears to have survived and was in use as a surgery/health centre for the University in the 1980s.

In 1965 arrangements were made for the transfer to the new University of Stirling of the Airthrey Castle Estate, although it remained in use as a maternity hospital until 1968-9. It was replaced by new maternity units in Paisley and Stirling. The castle was listed in 1973 category B.

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About Harriet Richardson

I am an architectural historian, currently a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, researching post-war hospital buildings in Scotland. From 1991 to 2018 I worked on the Survey of London. During the late 1980s and early 1990s I worked on surveys of hospital architecture in Scotland and England.

30 Responses to Airthrey Castle Maternity Hospital

Hi Jaqui, my name is James, i am part of a college group conducting a local investigation for our assessment, our topic is the history of Airthrey Castle in particular the maternity hospital. I myself was born there in 1968 and are trying to gather as much information or peoples experience as we can, if you could give any feedback it would be much appreciated

Hi Katharine, my name is James, i am part of a college group conducting a local investigation for our assessment, our topic is the history of Airthrey Castle in particular the maternity hospital. I myself was born there in 1968 and are trying to gather as much information or peoples experience as we can, if you could give any feedback it would be much appreciated

Hello , what documentation do you have about the November 1944 Knight Frank & Rutley sale ? I am doing an investigation about this particular sale and I am not able to find ANYTHING regarding the auction. Please get in contact with me to see if you can help me !

I was born in Airthrey Castle 1st April 1940 Samuel Benson Beattie
I remember my mother telling me when she arrived at Airthrey Castle the snow was very deep,and she was carried up the stairs of the Main Entrance by Staff at the Castle.
She described the room she was in as having round walls.
I was around 12yrs when she told me about this,unfortunately I dont remember anything more about what she said.
I’am at present researching my Family Tree and would like to know about anything happening around the time of my Birth at the Castle.in 1940.

I was born UPSTAIRS in the castle Dec. 1942 (Dianne Hendrie). My best friend was born downstairs Feb.1943 (Janette Turnbull). She tells everyone I am older than her. My revenge is to say I was born UPSTAIRS, lol. Robert O’Brien,my cousin, also born at Airthrey Castle.

My mum gave birth to my 2 brothers here. One in 1947 , the other in 1952. What I can’t understand is, my sister and myself were born 1955 and 1957, but delivered at home. My mum is no longer here so I can’t ask her. I would have liked to have been born in a castle lol

I was born in Lennox Castle 70 years ago today (10th of June 1949). A part of the asylum was made into a maternity wing after the war. My mother was unlucky enough to find herself in that place, where horror stories abound. She told me that in inmates of the asylum were used as hospital orderlies, pushing trollies around the maternity wards; they were a constant presence. Mum was so traumatised by my birth in those horrendous conditions that her nerves got the better of her. In the end, dad had to sign a waver to have her discharged. She vowed never to have another baby, but my brother was born 8 years later in Melbourne Australia. Mum died recently, but whenever she had had to be admitted to hospital, she would relate to the doctors and nurses the nightmare of my birth.I feel very lucky to have survived Lennox Castle and to have made it to my 70th birthday.

I was born there on the 11 December 1943, my mother was sent there from 129 High Street Dumbarton ,we lived next to Denny’s shipyard. Now live in Brisbane Australia, great to say “i was born in a castle aaah fun and games.”

I was born here in February 1948, to a South African mother and a Scots father, Tanya and Tom Main. We eventually settled in South Africa, and I now live in Cape Town. I have met one other person in SA whose daughter was born at the castle some years later. We must be scattered all over the globe.

Myself and my wife were also born in Airthrey castle in 1968. I had meningitis when I was in there and wasn’t expected to survive. I would love to hear from anyone who worked there at that time. I still get goosebumps everytime I see this beautiful building.

I was born in Airthrey Castle in May 1944 and my father always said that when I was born, a nurse held me up by my ankles at an upstairs window to let him see me from the grounds outside the castle. Beautiful photograph of the castle Thank you.